Texas stars shine on fall TV shows

Texas stars shine on fall TV shows

1of7Gary (S.A. native James Roday), center, and friends Eddie (David Giuntoli), left, and Rome (Romany Malco) try to take the edge off their grief following a pal's suicide with a silly selfie taken at a Boston Bruins game in the premiere episode of “A Million Little Things,” one of several new TV shows featuring Texas stars.Photo: ABC

2of7Henry Thomas: East Central High graduate and “E.T.” star Thomas, 47, (with co-star Violet McGraw) can be seen next month in Netflix chiller, “The Haunting of Hill House.” Thomas has been gravitating toward a lot of horror lately, particularly in projects from Mike Flanagan, a director he admires. Flanagan’s latest is a series adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s supernatural novel, “The Haunting of Hill House,” which previously had been turned into two movies titled “The Haunting.” This modern reimaginingPhoto: Netflix

3of7Grace McKenna: Grapevine’s McKenna, 12, also stars in “Hill House” as the young version of one of the spooked daughters. Viewers also can catch her in the timeslot premiere of “Young Sheldon” (7:30 p.m. Thursday on CBS), in which her ultra-brainy character causes the title wunderkind all kinds of aggravation. Professor Sturgis (Wallace Shawn), you see, bonds with Paige, 10, who’s also auditing his college course. The attention stirs up the green-eyed monster in Sheldon (Iain Armitage) and requires some intervening by Meemaw (Annie Potts).Photo: Warner Bros.

4of7Cole Allen: Austin native Allen, 14, stars as the ‘tween-aged son of Carrey’s Mr. Pickles, a children’s show star in the tradition of Mr. Rogers in Showtime’s dark comedy “Kidding.” Although the series is two episodes in, Allen really shines in Sunday’s third episode when his character opens up to a friend about the car-crash death of his twin brother and how it has affected his life and the relationship with his estranged parents.Photo: Showtime

5of7Violett Beane: Beane, 22, of new series “God Friended Me” also calls Austin her home. Though born in Florida, she moved to the Texas capital at a young age. In the CBS drama, which debuts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30, Beane stars opposite Brandon Micheal Hall, who plays Miles, an atheist podcaster. His world is shaken by a friend request on social media from someone who claims to be God. The strange journey that ensues leads him to Cara (Beane), an online journalist who’s blocked. Her career sees an upturn, however, as the two investigate “God’s” friend suggestions and inadvertently help others in need.Photo: CBS

6of7Jake McDorman: McDorman, 32, of Dallas, stars opposite Candice Bergen in the rebooted newsroom comedy “Murphy Brown,” which will air at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays on CBS, starting this week. He plays Murphy’s son Avery, who has grown from her famed out-of-wedlock baby into a journalist like his mom — well, sort of. Avery has joined the news on a rival channel, the Wolf network, a fictional play on Fox news.Photo: CBS

7of7Nik Donani: Another Big D native, Donani (second from right) plays Pat Patel on “Murphy Brown.” At an interview, he described his character as director of social media and technology for Murphy’s morning show. “My job is to be the voice of the younger generation and talk about the issues that weren’t really there in the original: social media, psychology, Internet, the speed at which a lot of stuff happens.” A successful standup comic, Dodani also will reprise his role as wisecracking, girl-obsessed Zahid on the Netflix dramedy “Atypical.”Photo: CBS

San Antonio native James Roday returns to weekly prime-time television in a dramatic departure from his frisky detective romp, “Psych.”

The Taft High School graduate said he hopes his warm and personal ABC hour, “A Million Little Things,” will help bring people together during what he termed a “divisive” time in this country.

“What’s important now is a show about honesty and humanity,” Roday said in a recent phone chat. “There are so many influences that are pushing us away from each other instead of towards one another.”

At times, “A Million Little Things” is reminiscent of “thirtysomething” and “The Big Chill.” It’s about friendship, communication and the wake-up calls life unexpectedly throws our way.

Making the drama even more special to Roday is its nod to his Mexican-American heritage. For the first time in his career, the 42-year-old actor, who was born James David Rodriguez, has been cast as a Latino lead with a name to match — Gary Mendes — a turn of events his late grandparents “would have absolutely loved,” he said.

Roday is one of a bevy of actors from San Antonio, Austin and elsewhere in Texas who either have landed starring gigs in new fall TV series.

Among them are S.A. native Henry Thomas, one of the leads in an upcoming supernatural thriller on Netflix, as well as Cole Allen, Jim Carrey’s young, Austin-born co-star in Showtime’s “Kidding.”

Setting Roday’s series apart from much of what’s on network TV is its exploration of how and why men — and sometimes, women — tend to suppress feelings, particularly difficult ones.

“There’s a certain social conditioning that goes along with this,” Roday said. “Men think they should talk about politics and sports. Dudes don’t open up their hearts. Dudes don’t cry. That’s been going on forever.”

In the premiere, Gary, along with his two close pals and their significant others, receives shocking news: Their friend, Jon, who more than any of them seemed to have it all, has taken his life.

“This friend’s unexpected death causes them to re-examine their life, to use that death as a catalyst to start living,” show creator DJ Nash said at a recent press session. “So while there are some sad topics on our show, we feel it is unbelievably optimistic because it’s all about looking to tomorrow.”

Roday’s Gary seems to be the most outspoken of the three, and his candor sometimes hurts.

“It’s important to have a proxy willing to say the things others are thinking,” Roday said.

He described it as a double-edged sword, because though tough love sometimes is required to get through a situation, it comes with a lack of decorum.

“That’s the blessing and curse of Gary,” Roday said.

A positive is Gary tends to temper his honesty with humor.

It not only helps him cope with his pal’s death, but has served him well in handling another personal crisis: breast cancer.

Roday pointed out that this disease affects 2 percent of the male population. “That sounds really, really low,” he added. “But when you think about the population, any percentage is going to be hundreds of thousands of people every year. That’s a lot of men out there who’ve had this experience.”

The show approaches “breast cancer through a male prism ,which I’ve never seen,” Roday added. I said, ‘wow’ -- here’s another opportunity to start a conversation.”

It also leads to romance. Gary meets Maggie (Allison Miller) at a breast cancer support group and is instantly smitten. Unlike his friends who are married, one happily, the other seeking fulfillment elsewhere, Gary is the bachelor of the group.

“He’s not exactly discriminatory when it comes to his sex life,” Roday said. Then, along comes smart, fun and clever-with-a-quip Maggie “and throws that out of whack.”

“A Million Little Things” was spawned by a friend’s suicide, Nash said, and a top priority was to turn that personal trauma into a series that rings true.

“The compliment our show has received that means the most to me is that it’s authentic,” he said.

This concern for keeping things real also affected Roday. “DJ asked me, ‘How do you feel about making Gary half-Latino?’

“He wanted to make it personal for all of us. . .and that’s me. I spent my entire life being half-Mexican,” he said; his father is Mexican-American.

Roday changed his last name professionally after discovering another actor already was registered as James Rodriguez.

“If I get to explore the culture through my character, it would be great. It’s something I celebrate every time I go to Texas for Christmas and am surrounded by whole-blooded Mexican-Americans.”

There was a moment while filming the Boston-set series that did feel unnatural to Roday - wearing a Celtics jersey. “I didn’t care for it,” he said. However, it was necessary, considering Gary is a diehard Celtics fan.

“It’s the end of an era,” Roday said. “Let’s blow it up, start over, every team has to do it, and it’s the Spurs’ turn.”

More Lone Star stars

As for other S.A. and Texas actors in roles this fall, here’s a closer look:

Henry Thomas: East Central High graduate and “E.T.” star Thomas, 47, can be seen next month in Netflix chiller, “The Haunting of Hill House.” Thomas has been gravitating toward a lot of horror lately, particularly in projects from Mike Flanagan, a director he admires. Flanagan’s latest is a series adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s supernatural novel, “The Haunting of Hill House,” which previously had been turned into two movies titled “The Haunting.” This modern reimagining boasts an impressive cast led by Timothy Hutton, Michiel Huisman and Carla Gugino. All 10 episodes stream on Netflix on Oct. 12.

Grace McKenna: Grapevine’s Grace McKenna, 12, also stars in “Hill House” as the young version of one of the spooked daughters. Viewers also can catch her in the timeslot premiere of “Young Sheldon” (7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 on CBS), in which her ultra-brainy character causes the title wunderkind all kinds of aggravation. Professor Sturgis (Wallace Shawn), you see, bonds with Paige, 10, who’s also auditing his college course. The attention stirs up the green-eyed monster in Sheldon (Iain Armitage) and requires some intervening by Meemaw (Annie Potts).

Cole Allen: Austin native Allen, 14, stars as the ‘tween-aged son of Carrey’s Mr. Pickles, a children’s show star in the tradition of Mr. Rogers in Showtime’s dark comedy “Kidding.” Although the series is two episodes in, Allen really shines in Sunday’s third episode when his character opens up to a friend about the car-crash death of his twin brother and how it has affected his life and the relationship with his estranged parents.

Violett Beane: Beane, 22, of new series “God Friended Me” also calls Austin her home. Though born in Florida, she moved to the Texas capital at a young age. In the CBS drama, which debuts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30, Beane stars opposite Brandon Micheal Hall, who plays Miles, an atheist podcaster. His world is shaken by a friend request on social media from someone who claims to be God. The strange journey that ensues leads him to Cara (Beane), an online journalist who’s blocked. Her career sees an upturn, however, as the two investigate “God’s” friend suggestions and inadvertently help others in need.

Jake McDorman: McDorman, 32, of Dallas, stars opposite Candice Bergen in rebooted newsroom comedy “Murphy Brown,” which will air at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays on CBS, starting Sept. 27. He plays Murphy’s son Avery, who has grown from her famed out-of-wedlock baby into a journalist like his mom — well, sort of. Avery has joined the news on a rival channel, the Wolf network, a fictional play on Fox news.

Nik Donani: Another Big D native, Donani plays Pat Patel on “Murphy Brown.” At an interview, he described his character as director of social media and technology for Murphy’s morning show. “My job is to be the voice of the younger generation and talk about the issues that weren’t really there in the original: social media, psychology, Internet, the speed at which a lot of stuff happens.” A successful standup comic, Dodani also will reprise his role as wisecracking, girl-obsessed Zahid on Netflix dramedy “Atypical.”